Buona Pasqua

Good morning Fackers! Happy Opening Day and Happy Easter. Or, as Francisco Cervelli and the other all-time, all-Italian Yankees might say, "Buona Pasqua".

To the right, we see Dan Pasqua, a Yonkers born, north Jersey bred, homegrown outfielder for the Yankees during the 1985, '86, and'87 seasons. Despite the unorthodox batting stance displayed here, Pasqua had some pop, knocking 42 homers in 746 career AB with the Yanks, and posting an impressive 0.210 IsoP during his time in the Bronx. Following the '87 season Pasqua was shipped off to the White Sox for pitcher Rich Dotson, who went on to have a disastrous year plus stint in pinstripes. Pasqua spent the remaining seven years of his career on the south side of Chicago, leading the '88 ChiSox with 20 home runs. As a measure of revenge against his hometown team, Pasqua absolutely torched the Yankees for the remainder of his career, hitting .349/.430/.620 against them in 149 PA.

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I've been borderline giddy for about the past twenty four hours. The spring weather has been outstanding over the past several days. I've been able to catch up on sleep from my lost weekend in Montreal. I had been looking forward to yesterday's Future Stars game since the outset of Spring Training. And I've been looking forward to tonight's game since the last piece of ticker tape fell five months ago.

I'm also happy because it's Easter. It's the biggest holiday of the year for Christians around the world (including the Greek Orthodox this year, as they often have it fall on a different date) and I'll be observing and celebrating the holiday accordingly.

I suppose that, without getting blasphemous or dragging the blog into a religion conversation, I find it appropriate that this year Easter - the biggest holiday for my religion - and Opening Day - the biggest day of the year for my secular religion - fall on the same date. Both days offer hope and anticipation of what's to come. Both are rites of spring that I look forward to each year. Both are preceded by long stretches of preparation. In fact, Ash Wednesday, the official start of Lent, fell on February 17th this year - the same day pitchers and catchers reported to Steinbrenner Field.

Or maybe I'm just waxing poetic. If I am, forgive me. I'm just excited to eat, drink, be merry, and watch Opening Night.

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Dan Pasqua spent the final full minor league season of his career, 1984, with the Yankees' AA affiliate in Nashville, TN and led the Southern League with 33 HR. So, in recognition of his last name, his time in Nashville, and today being Easter, here's the Yonder Mountain String Band with "East Nashville Easter":

Apologies

Sorry for the lack of content today, but like your mother always told you, "If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all". I've been writing some stuff that may or may not appear in a more reputable establishment, and for the time being, that has taken precedent over what gets done around here.

In the mean time, check out Fack Youk's blogger profile. We spent some time on Saturday morning updating it and hopefully you find it somewhat amusing. It's not supposed to represent me or anyone else who writes here, just personify the blog itself a bit. It is a living document so feel free to offer any additions in the comment section for things you think would fit in.

We'll be back and better than ever tomorrow. Actually... we'll just be back.

But it will be one day closer to this:

Countdown To Opening Day: #33

[Update: 10:58PM: Thanks to a comment by our always vigilant reader mmb1980, I made a few corrections to this post. Check the comment itself for some more detail because it's about three times better than my half-assed effort.]

A few things I didn't know about Charlie Hayes:

• Hayes is one of only 11 players to play in the World Series and Little League World Series, appearing for his hometown of Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 1977.
• He was the Yankees starting 3rd baseman for most of the 1992 season.
  
• And played games for seven MLB teams (Yanks, Pirates, Phillies, Giants, Brewers, Astros, Rockies)
  

Hayes arrived just in the nick of time. He was traded to the Yankees a day before the waiver deadline in 1996 by the Pirates, for Chris Corn. Despite the fact that he played in 20 of the team's final 28 regular season games, spelling an aging Wade Boggs in his last year as an All-Star, Hayes had more at bats in the WS than Boggs (16 to 11).

He was brought in the top of the 7th of Game 6 as a defensive replacement, which is why he was drifting towards the stands along the third baseline when John Wetteland got Mark Lemke to pop up.

I briefly shared the story of where I was when Charlie made that catch. Would anyone else like to chime in? I'm sure some of you weren't awkward 12 year olds with braces, sitting alone, saying to themselves, "Thisccch isscch scchhoooo sccccchhweeet!"

Countdown To Opening Day: #41

The Yankees have a long history of getting great players just as they are exiting their prime and their 2005 aquisition of Randy Johnson was a perfect example.

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When the Yankees got The Big Unit, I couldn't have been more excited. I got a call from my roommate Kevin and we were both downright giddy. We had known him as an ageless wonder who had just hit his stride at age 35 and taken down four straight Cy Young awards.

At a time when the rest of the Yankees' rotation was Mike Mussina, Kevin Brown, Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright, it looked like a move that should have pushed them over the top. The Red Sox had just won the World Series and it seemed like sending Javier Vasquez, Brad Hallsey, Dioner Navarro and $9M to the Diamondbacks was going to right the baseball universe once again.

In retrospect, there were a ton of warning signs, land mines, red flags and caution tape that Yankee fans probably should have noticed.

1. He was 41 years old
2. He had spent his last six seasons in the National League West
3. After pitching 244 or more innings in 5 consecutive seasons, he was hurt in 2003 and started only 18 games at a 4.26 ERA
4. He was making $16M a year
5. His K/9 had been declining for 4 years
6. Being 6'10" is as much of a liability as it is an asset

I don't put much stock in whether people in the New York media think a player can "handle the New York media", but that scuffle with a cameraman on the way to his Yankee physical certainly wasn't a good omen.

After posting ERAs 2.64 or below in 5 out of his 6 years in Arizona the Big Unit threw 225 2/3 innings of 3.79 ball for the Yanks in 2005. Mostly attributed to his "hanging sliders", he gave up 32 home runs and 207 hits, the highest totals of his career. It was a respectable season overall, but it fell far short of even the most conservative expectations of Yankees fans, players and executives. The prevailing thought at the time was that Johnson would rebound the following year and return to his dominant form.

The result was quite the opposite, in fact. He started 33 games but threw only 205 innings, an average of under 6 1/3 innings per outing, the lowest of his career. His K/BB ratio fell from 4.48 to 2.86 (also the worst of his career). For the first time since his rookie season in 1989 and only time since, he posted an ERA worse than league average.

Late in the season it was revealed that Johnson was pitching with a herniated disc. He received treatments and ended up starting Game 3 of the ALDS against Detroit. It was his last game in Pinstripes and he gave up 5 runs in a contest the Yanks went on to lose 6-0.

The Yanks ended up trading Johnson back to the D-Backs for Luiz Visciano, Ross Olendorf, Alberto Gonzalez and Stephen Jackson. It was a pretty fair haul for a 43 year old pitcher with a bad back coming off what was easily the worst full season of his career.

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After getting it right (for the most part) with guys like David Cone, David Wells, El Duque and Roger Clemens during the last 90's and Mike Mussina in 2001, the aughts have been filled with a minefield of pitching acquisitions that just didn't work out.

In addition to Johnson and Vasquez: Kevin Brown, Jaret Wright, Carl Pavano, Jon Lieber, Jose Contreras, Esteban Loaiza, Jeff Weaver...

If the Yanks are going to return to the promised land this year, they need two big double-initialed additions to the rotation buck that trend.

Countdown To Opening Day: #45

For much of the 90's the number 45 was penciled into the Yankees' DH slot.

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Danilo Tartabull Mora originally came up as shortstop with the Royals. He only played 24 games in The Bigs at SS, and was quickly transitioned to a RF/DH. He had solid numbers with the Royals but nothing too impressive, especially for a corner OF/DH. Coming off a the best season of his career in 1991 (171OPS+), Tartabull became one of the five highest paid players in baseball when he signed a five year $25.5M deal with the Yankees.

He put up decent numbers when he was healthy, but Danny was plagued by injuries during his tenure, averaging only 122 games during the three full seasons he spent the Bronx before being traded to Oakland in 1995. He suffered from sprained wrists, pulled hamstrings, back spasms and bruised kidneys. Sound similar to another free agent acquisition to bear the #45? The Curse of Danny Tartabull(c) You heard it here first.

After he was traded to the A's for Ruben Sierra, Tartabull lashed out a George Steinbrenner for the comments The Boss has been making all season about him. Danny said:

If s a zoo there. No, I take that back; it's a joke. The sad part is that the only reason for that is the owner. He wants to be the center of attention so bad he just destroys that team. If s so hard for those guys to win because of that man. To win the division, you have to be twice as good as anyone else just to overcome all of the crap that goes on. The guys won't say it on the record, but they're just miserable there.

Some of that was probably warranted, but here's the kicker:

That team's going to be a disaster next year. You'll see. No one's going to want to play there.

See, you just change "disaster" to "dynasty" and "No one" to "Everyone" and that sentence makes perfect sense!

In one of the most fitting ends to a career possible, he retired seven games into the 1997 season after fouling a ball of his toe.



The Yanks acquired the ironically-named Cecil Fielder in 1996 by trading Ruben Sierra and Matt Drews to the Tigers. Fielder hit 13 HRs in 53 games to round out the regular season. On the way to the World Series, Big C hit .307 with 3HRs and 10RBIs. A portly chap, Fielder was almost exclusively a DH, appearing in only 17 games in the field in his two years with the Yankees, all at first base. Bill James once called Cecil, "a fat guy that hit a few home runs for a while."

In 1990 & 91, his first two full seasons as a pro, Fielder hit 51 then 44 HRs and finished second in the MVP voting to Rickey Henderson then Cal Ripken. His 1990 season was the first 50+HR in the American League since Mantle and Maris went at it in 1961. Big Daddy finished his career with 319 round-trippers and a line of .255/.345/.482.



Fielder left after the 1997 season and the Yankees acquired Charles Theodore "Chili" Davis to try and fill his shoes. Chili got his nickname from a bad haircut he cut when he was 12, growing up in Kingston, Jamaica. He injured his ankle in Spring Training in '98 and after playing in the first two games of the season, appeared in only 33 more coming down the stretch. He saw 27 ABs that postseason and drove in 7 runs.

He exclusively DH'ed during his time with the Yanks and wasn't particularly strong offensively, but is remembered fondly by most Yankee fans because his two years in the Bronx coincided with two World Series victories. When he retired, he had the third highest career HR total (350) as a switch hitter, behind only Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray.

Countdown To Opening Day: #46

Are Yankee fans racist? Maybe just a little bit?

Remember last year, when LaTroy Hawkins was continuously booed because he was sporting Paul O'Neill's #21? It probably didn't help that he gave up six runs in 2/3 of an inning in his second appearance in the Bronx, and had an ERA over 10.00 as late as his 10th outing. However, the 5 Yankees who donned #46 after Andy Pettitte left for Houston weren't that much better, but no one bothered to boo them and petition for Pettitte's number to be retired.

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Donovan Osborne was the first to pull on a #46 jersey after Pettitte left in 2003. On May 15th, 2004, Osbourne became the first Yankee since Babe Ruth to start a game for the Yanks after not starting a game for over 5 years. He gave up six runs in 5 innings and never appeared in another game for the Yankees. That year he pitched 17 2/3 innings gave up 14 home runs, and, um, sucked.

Next up was Darrell May. He was traded from the Padres to the Yankees in early July of 2005 and made his first appearance for the Yankees at the Stadium against the Indians on July 9th. May allowed 7ER in 4 1/3 IP and surrendered 3 HRs. His next outing was in Fenway Park and was equally atrocious. May came into to replace Tim Redding who was battered for 6 runs in the first inning, and gave up 6 more of his own in the followed 2 1/3. After giving up 13 earned runs in seven innings with the Bombers, George Steinbrenner had him shipped to an internment camp in Peru. May was never seen or heard from again.

Later that same year, Alan Embree was added to the Yankees after being released by the Red Sox. While with Boston, Embree gave up only two runs in 13 1/3 postseason innings, but was marginal during the regular season, with ERAs above 4. He arrived with an ERA of 7.88 and amazingly his ERA never rose to 8.00 or dropped below 7.00 while he was with the Yanks. He appeared in 14 1/3 innings over 24 games and gave up 12 ER. The Rockies signed Embree for $2.5M for the 2009 season. Good luck with that.

In 2006, Scott Erickson slipped on #46 for nine relief appearances in May and June. His 7.94ERA reflects the fact that he gave up 10 earned in 11 1/3. Like Darrell May, Erickson's last game with the Yankees game with the Red Sox, and he gave up 2 runs in 2/3 of an inning. He was sent to Uruguay.

In July of that year, a position player actually had the honor of donning Andy's numeral. The Yankees claimed Aaron Guiel off waivers from the Royals where he had spent parts of 5 seasons. He played only 4 complete games, but appeared in 44 for the Yanks and actually posted an OPS+ of 99 and popped four home runs.

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You are all racists. I rest my case.

Countdown To Opening Day: #47

[Joe and I are going to be running a tandem countdown format. He will focus his efforts on a notable baseball player from throughout the Major Leagues to wear that particular number, while I'm going to countdown via one or more not so notable Yankees, similar to the #14 post we did leading into Spring Training. There might not be one of each every single day, but we will try to ensure that there is at least one or the other.]

Shance Spencer, referred to as Roy Hobbs when Jeff Francoeur was still only 14, burst onto the scene during the Yankees illustrious 1998 season. In his first 67 at-bats in the Majors, Spencer famously lofted 10 home runs, three of them with the bags packed and drove in 27. Despite quickly coming back to earth, Spencer stuck around as a role player long enough to appear in four World Series.

In 2004 while he was supposed to be on a rehab assignment, he was arrested in Florida for driving 97MPH... while drunk. That same year, he and then teammate Karim Garcia were charged with assaulting a pizza delivery guy, but the charges were dropped. After all MLB teams passed on him, he played in Japan for two years, starting in 2005. He's currently a hitting coach for a Single A team in the Padres organization.


Bob Lemon was brought in to replace Billy Martin in 1978. He presided over the 14 game comeback to catch the Red Sox, the famous (or infamous, depending on where you are looking from) Bucky Dent game and the ensuing World Series Championship, wearing both #47 and #21 that season.


Ron "Suitcase" Villone has never spent more than two years in the same major league uniform. He threw 80 2/3 innings for the Yanks in 2006 to a 5.04ERA, then declined a salary arbitration offer from the Yankees that December. He made $2.5M in '06, but turned down the offer which would have almost certainly earned him raise. Ron went unsigned and came back to the Yanks on a minor league deal, costing him roughly $2M. He didn't make the team out of Spring Training in '07 but was called up in May and threw 42 1/3 innings to a better than league average ERA. I know this may cause a stampede, but he's currently a free agent. Notice his highly intimidating pitching sneer shown below.


Colter Bean, inspiration for the blog Free Colter Bean, holds the record for appearances for the Columbus Clippers with 212. A dubious distinction indeed, Bean will remembered not for his 7 major league innings and seven earned runs to match, but for his AAAA status and the fact his talent never carried over into the majors.


Last but not least... Sir Sidney Ponson. Rubber-armed and lard-gutted, Ponson was brought on for two separate stints with the Yanks in 2006 and 2008. In '06 he shat the bed to the tune of a 10.47ERA over 16 1/3 innings before being DFA'd.

Last year, after being released by Texas for his disorderly conduct despite sporting a 3.88ERA, he was snatched up by Brian Cashman on June 18th to help patch up the Yankees reeling rotation. He made his debut against the Mets on June 27th (the second half of the double header when Carlos Delgado suddenly stopped sucking) and went 6 innings without surrendering a run. It was pretty much all downhill from there. He ended up eating 80 innings for the Yankees (must... resist... fat... joke) but finished the season with a 5.85ERA in Pinstripes.

He is currently preparing to represent the Netherlands in the WBC by drinking his face off and assaulting respected public servants.